Mer and Yan's Wonderful Relationship
by Saphira Eliante
Summary: This is a fanfic-type thing set in an AU A:tLA world. Nothing to do with the canon characters, nor is it about the Avatar. It's about to bros in their last year of college with complicated pasts and how they struggle with feeeelings. Rated for language.
1. RoommateofMystery

_FALL_

_Mercutio Atticus Zamir_

The twenty-three year old college kid known as Mercutio Atticus Zamir had his duffel bag over his shoulder and the key to his room in his hand. His laptop case was on the floor, resting against the wall. He took a deep breath, then looked at what would be his living space for the next two semesters. It wasn't so bad; there were two twin beds, a mini fridge, two desks, a closet and a dresser opposite it. He picked up his laptop case and set it on the desk; he decided to start unloading clothes into the dresser. This was his last year of college, and he was glad to be done with it.

It wasn't long before Mer's roommate-of-mystery walked on in. He was a short kid, wearing a beanie and a long-sleeved jacket. He had on gloves, too; the only part of his skin visible was his face. "Oh, you're already here?" He spoke shortly, a displeased look on his face.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Mercutio, but just call me Mer, bro." The taller of the two walked towards the door, a hand extended.

"Yeah, yeah, lovely to meet you. God, you're tan. How do you not have skin cancer?" The kid's hazel eyes stared blatantly at Mer.

"Oh, I spend a lot of time outside. I like the sun." He let his hand fall, then asked a question. "So, do you have a name, or should I just call you shorty?"

"My name's Ianto, asshole." He snorted. "Not all of us are born at stupid heights."

"Yan-to?" Mer paused, ignoring everything that came after the boy's name. "Can I just call you Yan?"

It was funny seeing his face screw up in frustration. "Ianto! Ianto! It's not a difficult name!" He threw a duffel bag on the bed closer to the closet, mumbling to himself.

"Well, Yan, my man, I'm just going to keep on unpacking, then." Mer ambled over to where he had been before, and whistled a bit as he finished unpacking. A few minutes and a flop on the bed later, Mer was carefully studying his roommate.

Yan was of an average height, even if it did feel short to Mer. His skin was a pale peach, with a smooth complexion. When he finally took off his beanie, gloves and jacket, Mer could see arrow tattoos- the guy was an airbending master! Mer chuckled; with the kid's temper, he could have fit right into any fire nation home.

"So, you're an airbender?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"… How come you have hair?" The hair in question was dark brown, not too far off in color from Mer's own hair.

"Fuck shaving. I left the temple years ago, and I enjoy the warmth a full head of hair brings." Before Mer could make any comments (he wasn't going to anyways), Yan continued. "So, judging by the blue eyes, stupidly tan skin, and goofy face you're from a water tribe? North or South pole?" He crossed his arms, a carefully crafted look of simultaneous disinterest and disdain covering his features.

Mer grinned, glad that Yan was at least talking now. "Actually, I'm from the fire nation. My mom was half 'n' half, so I got my eyes from her side of the family." He stretched out on the bed, calm as ever.

"Really fucking now? Every person I've met from the fire nation is an angry douchebag." Yan snorted. "You're just a douchebag."

Mer didn't rise to the bait; he let pretty much everything slide off of him. Instead, he rolled over and faced Yan. "So, roomie, you want to go grab a cup of coffee or something? We might as well get to know each other, right?" He got up, a small smile on his face, body totally relaxed. "Seeing as we'll be spending the next, what, eight months together?"

"Whatever. Your ass is paying, though." The two walked out the door together into the chilly fall air.

* * *

><p><em>Taffy Ianto Yale<em>

The five foot seven (which, for your information, is NOT short), twenty-three year old airbender by the name of Taffy Ianto Yale was not an easy man to please. He had a famous temper, swore like a sailor, and had a reputation for being one of the best benders to ever leave the temples.

He was currently enrolled in his last year of college, and he couldn't wait to go out and do… whatever it is you do with a degree in literature. Though he was loathe to admit it, Yan -for now that his douche of a roommate called him that, so did everyone- knew that he'd probably end up returning to the temples and return to the life of a monk. He wasn't so far from it now, even. Despite his violent swearing, Yan didn't fight often; he was still a vegetarian, and he even kind of missed travelling from temple to temple.

But right now, none of that was on his mind. Here was this stupidly tall guy that would apparently be his roommate. Yan was kind of pissed that he had a roommate at all- didn't being a senior mean ANYTHING? No, no, here he was stuck with possibly the most easy-going guy ever. And it pissed him off. Yan wasn't quite sure why he agreed to get coffee with him, but at least he had plenty to complain about on the way there.

"Why are we walking? Don't you even have a bike?" Yan's arms were crossed as he followed Mer to some coffee shop nearby.

"Don't you?" Mer's hands were in his pockets, feet bare against the cold cement. "I like walking. It's so much easier to feel the life of the city this way."

"At least I can afford fucking shoes. Why don't you have any?"

Mer stopped for a moment to look back and smile widely at Yan. "I love walking barefoot. It's the best feeling in the world."

"… You're fucking weird." Yan followed Mer into the small coffee shop; the girl behind the counter waved at him and said hello.

The chick -her name was Beth or some shit like that- handed Mer and Yan two coffee-based drinks, flirting the entire time with Mer. It was rather shameless, Yan thought, and kind of unclassy. He felt this way partly because she was all but throwing herself into Mer's arms, and partly because she completely ignored Yan.

The duo sat down at a table near the front, and Mer began dumping various kinds of packets into his coffee. Yan stared and sipped at his own. "Do you want fucking diabetes?"

Mer paused. "No, but I like my coffee this way. Only in the afternoon, though. In the mornings I take it straight up black." He sat back and laughed. "Nothing else can wake me up." He looked at Yan again, then slunched over and began asking asinine questions. "So, if you're a master, how'd you get there?" He sipped happily at his coffee (if it could even be called that at this point).

Yan scowled. "When you're an airbender, you have to master the thirty-six tiers of airbending. Once you've done that, you have to invent a new air technique before they give you your tattoos. It's a fucking long process, but I was able to get through it all." Yan paused. "I almost wasn't tattooed, though. They didn't like my technique too much. Said it was too violent, or cruel, or something." He sipped quietly and stared out the window.

"Oh. Well, what was it?" Mer still had that _stupid_ smile on his face. "I'm a firebender, bet you it's not too cruel for me."

"You bend the air out of someone's lungs." Yan stated bluntly.

Mer paused. "Oh. That is pretty harsh, actually."

Yan snorted. "I was granted the status nonetheless. Then I got right the fuck outta there." He paused, and figured that it was his turn to continue the conversation. "What about you? Said you were a firebender, right?"

Mer's smile returned. "Oh, yeah. I'm not a master, but my dad was at the age of fourteen. Fuckin' lightning. At fourteen." Mer paused for effect, then continued. "He taught me everything I know. Well, except for the magician bits." He laughed heartily. "I doubt my dad could ever be caught bending for tips." Mer drained the last bit of his coffee, then rose. "You ready to get back to the dorm?"

Yan's scowl lightened up a bit, and he nodded and rose. "Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here before it gets dark."

On the way back, Yan caught himself staring for long periods of time at the firebender. He was over six feet, but he filled out well. He seemed muscled and toned, like he trained a lot and always had. He had that cancerous-looking skin, and stupid hair that fell about and ruffled and hung down to his neck, and really white teeth, and all these other little weird features. He had some faint burn scars on his arms -Yan had noticed these inside when they had taken their jackets off- but they looked pretty normal. The thing that Yan was distracted by/hated the most were the guy's eyes. It wasn't just that they were the exact color of his arrows, or the fact that the whites of his eyes made them even more pronounced against his dark skin. No, the thing that bugged Yan the most about those eyes is they had a story behind them, and he was almost curious as to what it was.

He scowled the whole way home.

* * *

><p>SO! That's the introductory chapter! What'dja think? Just so you know, the rest of this story is pretty gay (in case you couldn't tell already), and chapters are all fairly short- they're not even chapters so much as quick bursts of writing; they're little snippets of these two character's lives.<p>

Maybe -just maybe- I'll write some smut later. Much, much later and likely in a separate story.

As far as the setting, think steampunk world, 583 years after the canon events. Airbenders have managed to come back, but they're still fairly rare. There are many people of mixed blood, but no one can bend more than one element with the exception of the avatar. Ah, speaking of Avatars... He's an old crusty codge of an earth bender. :D Completely irrelevant.

See you later!


	2. CLEARLY all about the TITTIES!

It was inevitable that Mer would be shirtless at some point in front of his roommate. He had stopped being self-conscious of the scars that covered his body, but he wasn't quite sure how Yan would react to them. As he learned to live with his body, Mer came up with a game he would play, guessing how people would react to the once-burned flesh. There were the weirdly fascinated types, the ones who got grossed out, the ones who thought it ugly, and the ones who thought the scars sexy. Occasionally, there were the types who did none of the above, but just accepted Mer's scars like they accepted his hair and eye color.

Those were the kinds he liked the best.

All of this was naturally passing through his brain as he walked around -shirtless- through the hallway and to their room. He had been showering, and he had forgotten to bring along clothes to change into. Standing there, wet and only wearing a towel, Mer thought for a moment on Yan's reaction. Would he make a snide comment (likely), or would he ignore the scars completely (doubtful)? Mer thought a moment longer. _He'll probably say some smart-assed thing and then ignore them. _Mer opened the door and walked in. "Hey, man, that laundry done yet? It's fuckin' cold, bro."

Yan, who had been quietly folding laundry (why the fuck did he wash Mer's shit, too? Lazy asshole), froze when he saw Mer. Wearing nothing but a towel draped around his hips. A red flush began to cover Yan's face, so he buried his sight in the folded clothes in front of him. "Uh, uh, y-yeah, hold on." Yan had no clue as to why he was so flustered at the sight of a near-naked dude. It's not like it was something he'd never seen before. Was it the scars, then? Maybe. Mostly he felt embarrassed to be looking at Mer like that; it felt like he had walked in on a girl getting dressed. "Fuck, man, a little warning next time you decide to parade around naked? I mean, shit, you're kind of…" Yan trailed off, choosing to finish his sentence mentally. _Kind of fucking hot oh god. I'm not a faggot, so why am I thinking like one?_

Mer was slightly confused and surprised. He certainly hadn't predicted a reaction like that from one like Yan; it had been five days into their friendship and Yan had never stuttered or blushed so furiously before. "Sorry, bro, there were no clothes to bring on my way to bathe." Mer grabbed some clothes and pulled them on; instantly, Yan began to feel a little bit more comfortable. Mer considered for a moment pressing Yan to finish the sentence, but he figured it was something along the lines of 'scary to look at'. Instead, Mer chose to throw himself on his bed, sighing and relaxing. Before he could say anything, though, Yan managed to speak up.

"So, um, how did you get… uh… scars…" Yan's voice drifted off and got quieter at the end, but Mer was able to pick up on it.

"Oh, no big. My dad was a huge dick. Kind of burned me when I would mouth off or anything during training." He gave a lopsided smile. "I sure stopped that shit quick."

"Right." And that was the end of it. Yan continued sorting laundry, wondering why he was acting like such a homo when CLEARLY he was all about the TITTIES. Mer continued on, pretty much the same as normal.


	3. Taffy Duck

Let's face it: Yan is the bitch of this relationship. He cooks, he cleans, he fetches the mail, he does the laundry, he scrubs the mold out of the toilet. Now, don't get me wrong, Mer is totally capable of doing these things (except maybe that bit about scrubbing mold because ew). It's just that when Mer does cook, he burns everything. When he cleans, it's not up to Yan's standards. When he does the laundry, he mixes the reds and the whites and the blacks and makes Yan's underwear pink.

So Yan takes it upon himself to do all of these domestic duties. It was while he was doing one of these duties (folding and separating the laundry) when Mer decided to be just a bit more than a lazy asshole. He was coming in from a run, and he just happened to have his keys on him. So, being a totally nice guy, he got the mail. On his way up to the room, he was sorting through the letters, when he came across one addressed to a "Taffy Yale." Now, who on earth could that be?

"Hey, man, I think we got someone else's mail. Do you know a… Taffy?" Mer spoke calmly as he entered, but Yan's normal tenseness increased tenfold. "Woah, there's like three things addressed to him… A couple of bills, and… Is this from an Air Temple?"

Yan stood up, face flushed with anger, and tried to snatch the letters from Mer's hands. "Shut the fuck up and let me see those." He reached up, but Mer raised the letters out of the shorter kid's reach.

Then Mer, knowing his roommate so well, realized the reasons for that red face, the rage halo, the attempted snatching of letters. "Dude, your name is _Taffy_?" He erupted in laughter, making sure to keep the letters out of Yan's reach. "Dude, were they high when they named you? Like, woah, man. Taffy. Taaaafffy."

"Just shut the fuck up and don't mention this to anyone." Yan made a jump and got his mail. "I fucking hate you."

Silence reigned for a few moments, then Mer opened that trap of his and started vomiting words out of it. Yan tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to continue normally. "Can I call you Saltwater?"

"No."

"…Taff?"

"No."

"Taffman?"

"No."

"Taffy duck?"

"Hell no! Now leave me alone, Christ!"

"Okay, Taffy."

Mer felt he didn't quite deserve the shoe that landed on his face.

(About a week later, Mer climbed towards Yan's bed and whispered in his ear. "Taffy duuuuuuck~" Yan did not appreciate it).


	4. Bagpipes

It was late December, and cold season was in its prime. Snotty noses were everywhere, and the flu was positively wreaking havoc. Those who didn't take preemptive strikes against getting sick were sure to fall under the spell of some virus or bacterium.

Yan had plenty of herbal teas and remedies that he took from 'home' to help prevent the flu. Mer did not. And Mer got a rather bad bout of the flu.

It started one chilly night when he got home, coughing and a little tired. That night, he woke up around three a.m., and he managed to run to the bathroom before straight up puking. He managed to make it back, toting a bucket in case he felt the urge again, and fell into bed. Yan had awoken at the sound of the door opening violently; he was prepared to rip Mer a new one until he saw that the firebender was sick.

Mer groaned and crept underneath the covers, mumbling something about how cold it was. Yan, mumbling in a more general manner, walked over and put a hand on Mer's forehead. It was sweaty and hot. "Asshole, why'd you get the flu?"

Mer attempted what was probably meant to be human speech, but it just came out as a mangled groan. Yan got a cool washcloth for his forehead, and then went off to make his super special air nomad remedies. "Fucking asshole, getting sick at fucking three in the morning…"

As to the ingredients of these amazing herbal brews, well, let's just leave it up to your imagination. I can tell you what it tasted like.

"This tastes like assholes, Yan." Mer barely managed to swallow some on his second attempt.

"I'm surprised you don't like it then. Drink it all up." Yan loomed over Mer, making sure that the concoction was finished down to the last drop. "Now sleep. You need rest and shit."

Mer didn't object, and rolled right over underneath the covers. He had weird, sick-induced dreams that included a unicorn, a chick with purple hair, and something about a bagpipe.

The whole time, though, Yan was there. He stayed by Mer's bed, feeding him weird herbal remedies and making sure Mer had a bucket to puke in.

Did Mer remember this uncharacteristically sweet side of Yan? Hell no. He was too concentrated on trying to figure out where all of those goddamn bagpipes were playing from.


	5. A Nice Morning

I guess this would be after they got together. I just wanted some fluff. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Yan, babe, wake up." Mer gently kicked the side of the bed, where Yan was wrapped up in a ball of blankets and sheets. There were a few odd limbs sticking out, and Mer had absolutely no idea where Yan's face was. Lighting up a cigarette (he really should quit, Yan hated it, but hey, it wasn't too bad, he was a firebender, what could you expect), Mer kicked the bed again. The lump groaned, and Mer went into a true attack.<p>

"OH HELL NO STOP TICKLING ME ASSHOLE FUCK I'M UP PUT THE CIGARETTE OUT THAT SHIT IS NASTY JESUS FUCKING CHRIST." Success! Yan was awake. And angry, as usual.

Mer kissed Yan's arrow (this was just about as close to his mouth he could get before Yan freaked right the fuck out). "You up now? You have finals in like, twenty minutes."

"…Really? What day is it? I thought it was Wednesday."

"It is."

"I don't have anything today, dumbass. Thursday and Friday are my last finals. My professor had some shit to do or something so it's tomorrow." Yan flomped back down onto the bed, burying himself in pillows. "I'm going back to sleep this shit is too early fuck why am I awake."

"…. It's, like, twenty 'till nine, man. How do you sleep this late?" Mer had, naturally, been up since sunrise, running, watching the sun, eating leftovers, looking at the sun, sunbathing, running some more, meditating, and waking Yan up.

Yan glared at Mer for a few minutes, not even bothering to give him an answer to that.

Mer sighed. "Well, what would _you _like to do, then, on our day off?"

Yan sighed heavily. "A whole lot of fucking nothing, that's what. Sleeping. That sounds good." The airbender buried his head further into the pillows.

Mer sat there like a dope for a few more minutes, then he decided to try and get a bit closer to his… Was he his boyfriend? Yeah, it had been like, three weeks, they were boyfriends at this point, right? Whatever. They had kissed, like, three times, because Yan would get all freaked out, and Mer decided it was time to be close for once. He laid himself down on the bed and straight up _spooned_ that bitch. Yan tensed up at first, but he relaxed. Eventually.

It was a nice morning.


End file.
